Kassidy and Terry

How We Met

When I walked in on my very first day at my new elementary school, I saw a boy with glasses that I immediately had a little crush on. Terry was shy and quiet but I knew I wanted to become his friend. Throughout the school year, I began to make more friends. One of the girls that I became closest with was actually Terry’s sister. How crazy. I would hang out at her house all the time, and slowly became closer with Terry too. I eventually told Terry that I liked him, and he told me he liked me too. We began to sit next to each other on the bus, play together at his house, and spend our field trip days right beside each other. I began to collect little memories from the times we would spend together (a picture of Terry, a wooden box he made me for Valentine’s day, notes we would give to each other, etc.) and put them into a box. It became known as my “Terry box” and I was excited every time I got to add a new memory. I was so “in love” with this boy and he didn’t even know it.

Eventually, like a typical ten year old boy, Terry became embarrassed once his friends began to find out we liked each other. So he told me he didn’t like me anymore and broke my fragile elementary heart. But don’t worry, I survived, and my life went on without him. Once I stopped attending that school, Terry and I completely lost touch. Seven years went by, and we hadn’t spoken to each other at all. One day, I got a friend request on Facebook from Terry Keith Vance II. He had grown up and gotten even more handsome then I remembered him.

We began talking over Facebook, and one day Terry had a few friends from our school over at his house. We thought it would be cool to hang out so everyone could catch up. We all stayed up all night long and did not go to sleep at all. We laughed and talked the night away. We both knew we had a connection that was undeniable. Ever since that day when we reunited, we have been inseparable. Who knew that my elementary school crush would be the man that I am going to spend the rest of my life with.

How He Asked

Since we first started dating, I knew that Terry would be the man I would marry someday. We both knew very early on that we were meant for each other. We started saying things like when we’re married this and when we’re married that, and it all just came very naturally. So a month or so before he proposed, I had my suspicions. I knew it was coming. My best friend Courtney and I decided we were going to have a beach day. The day before, Terry told me maybe he could meet us at the beach for sunset and I said that would be great! I thought nothing of it. We had a fun day tanning and relaxing. At one point, I said to Courtney “What if Terry’s meeting me here to propose?” We started joking about it, and I eventually just brushed off that idea. A few hours later, Terry got off of work and was on his way to meet us. He was running late because of “traffic” and he “forgot his bathing suit.” Little did I know, he was going back to his house to get my ring. When Terry finally made it through all that traffic to come to the beach, we laid on the sand for a little while. Terry just kept staring at me and telling me how beautiful I was. As I saw the sunset approaching, I jumped up saying we had to go for a walk and take pictures, the sunset was coming! (Which is funny because Terry and Courtney were trying to figure out how they were going to get me to go to the shore at sunset without seeming suspicious). Courtney started to take pictures of Terry and I. I felt like he was acting a little weird, but I didn’t say anything about it. We took several pictures, and Terry said we should take a kissing picture, which he’s NEVER asked to do. I’m usually the one forcing cheesy pictures. After we kissed, I began to walk away assuming that we were done with our impromptu photo shoot. But Terry had different plans. He grabbed me by the arm and told me to come back. I was so confused. Terry began to get down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I kept saying over and over again what are you doing? No way. Is this a joke? Are you serious? I was so so happy, but I was definitely in shock. I didn’t look at the ring or say yes. He had to ask me if that was a yes, and I finally said with all of my heart, YES.